LeBron James: Lakers Bench Won Game Vs. Suns

Most of the time the attention tends to go towards a team’s stars and the Los Angeles Lakers have two of the biggest in the entire NBA in Luka Doncic and LeBron James. But sometimes, the role players and reserves make all the difference and that was the case for the Lakers on Sunday night against the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers bench, which is the lowest scoring in the league, combined for 30 points and completely changed the energy of the game, sparking a 24-0 run in the second half. Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia and Gabe Vincent were huge in the Lakers win and their impact was not lost on the rest of the team.

After the win, James gave the reserves a ton of credit and flat out said that it was the bench who won the game for the Lakers, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:

“Our bench won us the game tonight. It’s that simple. Our bench won us the game tonight. Vando, after not being in the rotation for a minute, for him to come in and give us that spark with seven and seven, six offensive rebounds I believe he had, defensive prowess, a couple steals. Jaxson, Gabe, Jake, everybody. Our bench won us the game.”

Vanderbilt had been out of the Lakers rotation for weeks, but he immediately showed what he can bring to this team with seven points and seven rebounds, six of those on the offensive end, while also adding two steals and a block. Hayes was also huge with 12 points and nine rebounds while having one of the highlights of the night with his third quarter poster dunk and LaRavia did a ton of dirty work with six points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

There is no denying that the Lakers haven’t gotten much from their bench so far this season, but the impact they can make isn’t on the offensive end. That energy and defensive mentality that Vanderbilt, Hayes and LaRavia bring is something that can really flip a game for the Lakers as they showed against the Suns. Now, it will be important for them to continue consistently having these types of outings to relieve the pressure on James, Doncic and Austin Reaves going forward.

JJ Redick loves that the Lakers won ugly vs. Suns

The Lakers have been winning primarily with their offensive firepower, but against the Suns it was about crashing the glass and locking down on defense and head coach JJ Redick loved that his team was able to win in ugly fashion.

“It’s gonna sound sick: I love winning games like this,” Redick said. “Wish it had not been a one-possession game, not been down with 12 seconds, like all that stuff. But winning ugly is actually really fun because it means you got in the trenches and you fought, and we did that tonight.”